Finished Drilling Right Main Spar

Today I finished all of the drilling for the right main spar.  Feels good to have it done!  One more to go if I counted right :-)





Test fit looks good.


It's starting to get hot in Florida.  Time to jump in the pool...

Right Wing Spar Drilling

I took a vacation day today and drilled some holes (that's how you know you're addicted!).  I'm excited about the results.  Just clecoed with the lower spar only, it is pretty amazing how stiff the wing spar is.  I also marked the holes for the top spar cap.  I think I'll have some time in the morning to drill that one.



I drilled the cap clamped together, but without the spar web (the skinny flat piece).  Then I used the spar cap as a guide to drill the web.  I think this is easier than trying to drill with all of the pieces clamped together.

Drilling holes in 4130

I'm drilling into the 4130 brackets and center spar.  Here's a quick picture or two of the progress.  I drilled the 4130 first, and use that as a template clamped to the spar to drill the spar (taped them together in pairs to keep match drilled parts together).  Seems to work.  More to come soon!





Lots of metal!

Dihedral, Rib Brackets, Center Spar Drilling

Had a lot of shop time this weekend (Thanks, Jess!) and was able to accomplish the following:

• Cut 7/16" out at root of right spar for dihedral.
• Cut all rib brackets from aluminum angle for right wing and center spar.
• Drilled 3/32" pilot holes for rivets and bolts in center spar.

Right wing dihedral

I was happy with how this went.  I cut the spar web with Andy Shears and notched the spar caps with a jigsaw followed by various sanders and files to smooth them out.

Below is a test fit with the 4130 brackets I made earlier. 

Rib Brackets

So far these have been pretty easy.  They are made out 1"x1" angel or 3/4"x3/4" angle depending on the location.

Here the angles are set in place.  This is the back of the wing.  The angles sitting above the spar will go on the front of the spar.

I cut them so they would fit exactly inside the spar caps, but the root of the angle on the inside is rounded, so I had to sand them all back a bit on the disc sander.   This shows the curve inside the angle and why they have to be cut a little shorter (which is clearly shown on the plan too).

Lot of aluminum dust everywhere!

Drilling Center Section Spar Caps

I used my rivet fan to mark all the holes I have to drill in the 2024 bar that is the front of the spar.  I left the holes for the 4130 brackets alone for now.  Thought I would learn a little before I take those on.

Then I clamped everything together. and started drilling.  In this picture I had 4 clamps, but in the second picture I started using a combination of additional clamps and clecos to hold things together while I drilled.

Holey Spar!

It's officially beer-thirty.

Measuring Dihedral for Right Wing

Today I measured and marked the cuts needed for the right wing's dihedral.  I thought it would be good to do this before doing any work on the left wing spar so I don't accidentally ruin both wing spars if I make a mistake.

I like these shots.  For the first time I can start to visualize an airplane wing.



I made a paper template to help me measure the cuts for each piece.  I can just align the part on this template and mark where I need to cut.  It would be reverse for the left wing.





Here are the marked up parts ready to cut.  I also marked the 2" cut I need to make in the spar caps for the wing attachment brackets.